And Dyche seized the opportunity to bring Cork back to the club where he enjoyed two successful loan spells at the turn of the decade.

Cork has played every minute for the Clarets in the Premier League so far this season, earning his first senior England cap in the process over the week.

No-one has run further than Cork in the top-flight so far this season, with the former Chelsea youngster adding graft to his undoubted quality on the ball.

Swans boss Paul Clement brought in Roque Mesa for £11m from Las Palmas the week before Cork’s sale, but the Spanish midfielder has started only one Premier League game.

Clement did, however, add Burnley target Sam Clucas and make the audacious capture of midfielder Renato Sanches on loan from Bayern Munich.

Cork has proved a bargain for Burnley, at £10m, and Dyche said: “What is a bargain today? Is £10m? Well, yes. It’s mad. But in the bigger picture you could say he is a bargain. In our world, that’s still expensive!

“It’s funny, I got asked the other week, about good characters – who doesn’t like good characters? I’ve known him since he was younger, he came to Watford, and I really enjoyed what he was giving the team.

“I’ve watched his career from a distance since, and when he became available it was a no-brainer.

Was Dyche surprised he became available: “One of the hardest things as a manager is that old favourite, familiarity breeds contempt.

“You can get to the point where you’re wondering what they do rather than remembering, and that can happen to varying players.

“This is bigger picture, not about Corky, but sometimes it’s a change of points in time – we want a new version of whatever player we’ve got, and then is that better? That can only be decided when the new player comes in.

“That’s why sometimes players change, it’s not because they’re bad, or clubs don’t like them, it might be getting someone out to get someone in.

“I don’t think for a minute Swansea or Paul Clement thought he’s not a good player, they maybe just wanted to morph it forward in a different way. But I really pushed to get it done when we knew he was available.”